This invention relates to a transport system including transport apparatus, which is used to construct a transport network using MPLS-TP, and a control apparatus for controlling the transport apparatus.
Internet Protocol (IP) and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) are known as technologies for data communication between communication apparatus, which are used to construct an IT network.
IP is a technology that uses IP address for data communication between communication apparatus. Details of IP are defined in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) 791 (see J. Postel, “IETF RFC 791 Internet Protocol”, September 1981) and IETF RFC 2460 (see S. Deering, et al., “IETF RFC 2460 Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification”, December 1998).
MPLS is a technology that uses MPLS label for data communication between communication apparatus. Details of MPLS are defined in IETF RFC 3031 (see E. Rosen, et al., “IETF RFC 3031 Multiprotocol Label Switching Architecture”, January 2001). In MPLS, a data communication route between communication apparatus is called a path, and IP is used to build a path in traditional MPLS. A communication apparatus that is the start point of a path and a communication apparatus that is the end point of the path are set by means of IP addresses. A route on the way to the path end point communication apparatus from the path start point communication apparatus is determined based on IP routing from the IP address of the start point communication apparatus to the IP address of the end point communication apparatus.
Path building in MPLS uses an IP layer protocol such as Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) defined in IETF RFC 5036 (see L. Andersson, et al., “IETF RFC 5036 LDP Specification”, October 2007). A communication apparatus building a path between the start point communication apparatus of the path and the end point communication apparatus of the path executes data communication by IP.
In recent years, a work of defining a technology called MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) has been underway (see M. Bocci, et al., “IETF RFC 5921 A Framework for MPLS in Transport Networks”, July 2010,). In MPLS-TP, a path is built not by IP but by settings set from a network control apparatus. A communication apparatus that is the start point of a path and a communication apparatus that is the end point of the path are set by specifying an interface and the like. A route on the way to the path end point communication apparatus from the path start point communication apparatus, too, is determined by specifying interfaces of the communication apparatus and the like.